Planning the perfect wedding can take a lot out of a couple. Now imagine if you had to arrange that special day twice. For a number of different reasons, more couples are finding that just one wedding won’t do it. In some cases, each family has a set of religious or cultural traditions that they would like to see observed. For others, they have a centralized group of friends or family in different locations and the only way to insure everyone can take part is to plan a version in each locale.

Elizabeth Holmes of the Wall Street Journal wrote couples struggle with several different factors when planning two different weddings, including the debating which is the “real” wedding (the church ceremony? The backyard gathering of friends?) and how to split your guest list for each event.

And, of course, one of the biggest obstacles in planning two weddings is the cost. One can’t just assume that two smaller weddings will add up to what the cost of a single, larger event. Wedding vendors like photographers don’t charge a per person rate, for example, so you will essentially be spending twice as much.

In this edition of the Getting Married podcast, Marketwatch’s Kelli Grant and Wall Street Journal Radio’s Mathew Passy explore whether anyone really needs two weddings, and how to plan and price them, if you decide you do.

Wedding planning requires some forethought, and a good amount of disaster planning: What will you do when there’s a hurricane in the forecast, or the reception hall goes out of business or the photographer’s camera malfunctions? Or all of the above?

Rather than allowing Bridezilla (and Groomzilla) to rampage, experts say it may be prudent to consider wedding insurance, which covers expenses lost to a variety of problems.

Wedding bills can be daunting, no doubt about it — the average celebration in 2012 ran $25,656.

So, will that be cash or credit?

Although the typical engagement runs 14 months, many of the costs are clustered. Deposits can be as much as half a vendor’s total bill up front, with final payments due in the last weeks before the ceremony. Not only can poor planning lead to bigger bills, it can also put couples at risk to lose money. Pay with cash, and there’s little recourse for a refund if the reception hall goes out of business or the photographer never shows. If the deposit was on a credit card, however, you may get that money back.

In this edition of the ‘Getting Married’ podcast, MarketWatch’s Kelli Grant and Wall Street Journal Radio’s Mathew Passy discuss discounts for paying in cash, the positive uses of a credit card (honeymoon miles, anyone?) and ways to protect yourself against wedding-related fraud.

Among the many costs associated with having a wedding, the bridal party can be a major expense, both for the couple planning the wedding and for the friends and family invited to participate.

For the couple, it can mean spending money on gifts, floral arrangements, clothing, styling and make-up. In some cases, the soon-to-be wed may have to cover airfare and accommodations.

Being a member of the bridal party can be a serious commitment as well. The best man and maid of honor will likely attend a number of different events and could end up spending hundreds of dollars on parties, gifts, flights, hotels, attire and more.

Wedding are beautiful, festive, joyful affairs. They are also stressful, expensive and emotionally draining. I had two of them (to the same man.)

It turns out my husband Paul and I are not alone in making that decision. As the Journal reports on Thursday, more couples are choosing to have two weddings. They make that choice for many reasons: because they come from different parts of the country, belong to different religions or are of different races or ethnicities. Couples may also opt for two weddings in order to balance their own preferences with the expectations of their families; some, for instance, may dream of a destination wedding on a tropical island while their parents prefer a more traditional wedding back home.

For Paul and me, picking a single wedding location was not straightforward. We met and fell in love in New York, but I come from Bulgaria and Paul hails from New Jersey. To add an extra layer of excitement and complication, we moved to Germany a few months after our engagement in 2009. After much consideration, we decided to get married in Bulgaria in June 2010. We were already living in Europe, but, more important, my 75-year-old grandmother had never set foot on a plane. I could not imagine not having her at my wedding and I couldn’t tolerate forcing her to fly.

About The Juggle

The Juggle examines the choices and tradeoffs people make as they juggle work and family. The site provides readers with news, insight and tips on parenting, workplace issues, commuting, caregiving and other issues busy readers with families face. It is also a place for readers to share and compare their own work-and-family experiences and to seek advice and recommendations. The Juggle is includes regular contributions from other staffers at the Journal. Contact the Juggle with ideas or suggestions at thejuggle@wsj.com

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